Samsung's Galaxy S III is plastic, but powerful (photos)

Samsung shows up in London to announce the Galaxy S III, the newest model in its Galaxy family of Android smartphones. CNET takes a closer look.

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The Samsung Galaxy S III says hello

LONDON--At its "Unpacked" event, Samsung unveiled the latest model in its flagship Android line, the Samsung Galaxy S III. Compared with its predecessors, the Galaxy family gets a more rounded look that's almost similar to the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. The 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED is sharp, crisp, and vibrant.
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A plastic build

The S III will come in two colors, white or blue. While the blue version has a textured brushed-metal design on the rear cover, it's actually plastic. It feels solid, but it doesn't give a good grip like the Galaxy Nexus, and it doesn't feel as durable as the polycarbonate finish of the One X.
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Make it snappy

The 8-megapixel camera of the S III features face detection and a burst mode of six images per second. I couldn't test the image quality at the prelaunch event, so I can't yet tell you if the S III's is better than the camera on the One X (or on the iPhone 4S).
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Your best shot

After burst mode finishes, you will get a menu where you can select the best picture. The S III is smart enough to pick the "best" image based on whether the eyes are looking at the camera or somewhere else.
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Wireless transfer

The handset includes an upgrade to Android Beam called S Beam, which lets you transfer files using NFC or Wi-Fi Direct. Samsung claims the file transfer rate between both phones can go up to 300Mbps.
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